Submitted by: Cathy Nimick
UNIT: Photography
Lesson: High Contrast Photographs
Grade Level: High School
NOTE: For the most part, developing film and burning photo images on paper is no longer done due to the era of digital cameras. However, you can still buy film developing supplies,
and you can do effects that you can't do digitally.
Pushing
Film for High Contrast Results
Objective- To increase
awareness of patterns of light and composition.
Your subject matter should be in very contrast lighting and in low
light situations. Try turning out all the lights in a room
with no windows and set up one very strong light (a 200 watt bulb
works well). You don’t need expensive lights for this. A black
or white cloth as a backdrop works well for this. Students bring
black and white clothing, hats
and props.
They take turns modeling. Student photographers are encouraged to
‘squint’ at the model and choose and crop a pleasing pattern
of light. Another option for this are night shots.
OVERDEVELOPMENT
Your assignment is
to push an entire roll
of Tri-X ISO Film
(35 mm) and over-develop accordingly.
Note- You must
raise your film speed in multiples of 2. Overdeveloping you film
will trick your camera into thinking it has faster film. There are ,
however, disadvantages to this. This is good for low light situations as it will give you the option of using faster
shutter speeds or getting more depth of field. You must , however,
change it at the BEGINNING of the roll, and overdevelop the ENTIRE roll. This is the same as underexposing and overdeveloping.
The disadvantages
(or advantages) to this process are:
loss of shadow
detail
increased contrast
increased grain
The
overdevelopment is generally done in percentages. Our developing
chart is for Sprint Standard Developer (which is similar to D 76).
Sprint recommends overdeveloping quite a bit more than other
developers.
Other
developers may vary a little bit, but here are some general rules:
-1 stop (or ISO 800 for
Tri X)
-
overdevelop by 30% to 50%
-2 stops (or ISO 1600 for
Tri X)
- overdevelop by 75% to 100%
PRINTING
It is recommended
that you use Variable Contrast paper and a high number filter for
both your contact sheet and your prints.
You may need to
burn in areas that are gray. Deep blacks work best.
TRI X
Developing Chart
Sprint Standard Developer
Step
#
65 68
71 1/2
75 (degrees)
1.
ISO 200
Sunlight |
10
1/2 |
8
1/2 |
7 |
5
1/2 |
2.
ISO 400
electronic
flash
as a general
safety margin |
12
1/2 |
10 |
8 |
6
1/2 |
3.
flat lighting
cloudy
day
in
the shade
indoors
low
quality camera |
14 |
11
1/2 |
9
1/4 |
7
1/2 |
4.
ISO 800
medium
high
contrast |
16 |
13 |
10
1/2 |
8
1/2 |
5.
ISO 1200
high
contrast |
25 |
20 |
16 |
13 |
6.
ISO 1600 very
high
contrast |
31 |
25 |
20
1/2 |
161/2 |
